1890 college football season

The 1890 college football season was the season of American football played among colleges and universities in the United States during the 1890–91 academic year.

1890 college football season
1890 Harvard Crimson
Champion(s)	Harvard
football seasons

The 1890 Harvard Crimson football team compiled a perfect 11–0 record, outscored opponents by a total of 555 to 12, and was recognized as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, National Championship Foundation, and Parke H. Davis.[1]

In the Midwest, the Baker Methodists defeated the Kansas Jayhawks by a score of 22–9 in the first college football game played in Kansas.[2] In the South, Vanderbilt Commodores defeated Nashville (Peabody), 40–0, in the first college football game played in Tennessee.[3]

As the popularity of the sport increased, several notable programs were established in 1890, including Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Vanderbilt.

All eleven players selected by Caspar Whitney for the 1890 All-America college football team came from the Big Three (Harvard Princeton, and Yale). Three of the honorees have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame: Harvard's great tackle Marshall "Ma" Newell, Yale's guard Pudge Heffelfinger, and Yale's halfback Thomas "Bum" McClung.

Conference and program changes

School	1889 Conference	1890 Conference
Butler Bulldogs	Independent	IIAA
Colorado Silver and Gold	Program established	Independent
DePauw Tigers	Independent	IIAA
Earlham Hustlin' Quakers	Independent	IIAA
Hanover Panthers	Independent	IIAA
Illinois Illini	Program Established	Independent
Indiana State Normal Sycamores	Independent	IIAA
Indiana Hoosiers	Independent	IIAA
Kansas Jayhawks	Program Established	Independent
Missouri Tigers	Program Established	Independent
Nashville	Program Established	Independent
Nebraska Old Gold Knights	Program Established	Independent
Purdue Boilermakers	Independent	IIAA
Rose Polytechnic Engineers	Independent	IIAA
Vanderbilt football	Program Established	Independent
Wabash Little Giants	Independent	IIAA
Western Reserve football	Program established	Independent

Awards and honors

All-Americans

The consensus All-America team included:

Position	Name	Height	Weight (lbs.)	Class	Hometown	Team
QB	Dudley Dean			Sr.	Lake Village, New Hampshire	Harvard
HB	Bum McClung	5'10"	165	Jr.	Knoxville, Tennessee	Yale
HB	John J. Corbett			Fr.	Boston, Massachusetts	Harvard
FB	Sheppard Homans, Jr.			Jr.	Englewood, New Jersey	Princeton
E	Frank Hallowell			So.	Medford, Massachusetts	Harvard
T	Marshall Newell	5'7"	168	Fr.	Great Barrington, Massachusetts	Harvard
G	Pudge Heffelfinger	6'4"	178	Jr.	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Yale
C	John Cranston			Sr.	Sheridan, New York	Harvard
G	Jesse Riggs			Jr.	Baltimore, Maryland	Princeton
T	William Rhodes			Sr.	Cleveland, Ohio	Yale
E	Ralph Warren			Jr.	Montclair, New Jersey	Princeton

Statistical leaders

• Player scoring most points: Philip King, Princeton, 145

Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

1890 Colorado Football Association standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Colorado Mines $ 3 – 0 – 0     6 – 0 – 0 Denver 2 – 1 – 0     3 – 2 – 0 Colorado College 1 – 2 – 0     2 – 3 – 0 Colorado 0 – 3 – 0     1 – 6 – 0 Colorado Agricultural 0 – 2 – 0     0 – 2 – 0 $ – Conference champion

1890 Eastern Intercollegiate Football Association standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Williams $   –       5 – 0 – 0 Dartmouth   –       4 – 4 – 0 $ – Conference champion

1890 Indiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Butler $ 3 – 0 – 1     3 – 0 – 1 Purdue 2 – 1 – 0     3 – 3 – 0 Wabash 0 – 3 – 0     0 – 3 – 0 $ – Conference champion

Independents

1890 Eastern college football independents records Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Harvard   –       11 – 0 – 0 Yale   –       13 – 1 – 0 Princeton   –       11 – 1 – 1 Franklin & Marshall   –       8 – 2 – 0 Navy   –       5 – 1 – 1 Penn   –       11 – 3 – 0 Cornell   –       8 – 4 – 0 Washington & Jefferson   –       2 – 1 – 0 Syracuse   –       7 – 4 – 0 Lehigh   –       6 – 4 – 0 Delaware   –       3 – 2 – 0 Amherst   –       6 – 5 – 1 Rutgers   –       5 – 5 – 1 Dartmouth   –       4 – 4 – 0 Penn State   –       2 – 2 – 0 Colgate   –       1 – 1 – 0 Wesleyan   –       5 – 6 – 0 Tufts   –       2 – 3 – 0 Brown   –       2 – 4 – 1 Western Univ. Penn   –       1 – 2 – 0 Lafayette   –       2 – 5 – 1 Bucknell   –       1 – 4 – 1 Fordham   –       1 – 3 – 1 Massachusetts   –       1 – 4 – 0 Columbia   –       1 – 5 – 1 Army   –       0 – 1 – 0 Geneva   –       0 – 1 – 0	1890 Midwestern college football independents records Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Nebraska   –       2 – 0 – 0 Washington University   –       2 – 0 – 0 Minnesota   –       5 – 1 – 1 Michigan   –       4 – 1 – 0 Northwestern   –       4 – 1 – 1 Missouri   –       2 – 1 – 0 Cincinnati   –       2 – 1 – 1 Lake Forest   –       5 – 3 – 0 Baker   –       1 – 1 – 0 Iowa   –       1 – 1 – 0 Illinois   –       1 – 2 – 0 Kansas   –       1 – 2 – 0 Ohio Wesleyan   –       1 – 3 – 0 Wisconsin   –       1 – 3 – 0 Ohio State   –       1 – 4 – 0 Doane   –       0 – 1 – 0 Washburn   –       0 – 1 – 0	1890 Southern college football independents records Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Furman   –       2 – 0 – 0 Vanderbilt   –       1 – 0 – 0 Virginia   –       5 – 2 – 0 Navy   –       5 – 1 – 1 Delaware   –       3 – 2 – 0 Georgetown   –       3 – 3 – 1 Johns Hopkins   –       0 – 1 – 0 Nashville   –       0 – 1 – 0 Trinity (NC)   –       0 – 1 – 0 Richmond   –       0 – 3 – 0
1890 Midwestern college football independents records Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Nebraska   –       2 – 0 – 0 Washington University   –       2 – 0 – 0 Minnesota   –       5 – 1 – 1 Michigan   –       4 – 1 – 0 Northwestern   –       4 – 1 – 1 Missouri   –       2 – 1 – 0 Cincinnati   –       2 – 1 – 1 Lake Forest   –       5 – 3 – 0 Baker   –       1 – 1 – 0 Iowa   –       1 – 1 – 0 Illinois   –       1 – 2 – 0 Kansas   –       1 – 2 – 0 Ohio Wesleyan   –       1 – 3 – 0 Wisconsin   –       1 – 3 – 0 Ohio State   –       1 – 4 – 0 Doane   –       0 – 1 – 0 Washburn   –       0 – 1 – 0

References

1. "National Poll Champions" (PDF). NCAA Division I Football Records. National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2017. p. 110. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
2. Evans, Harold (August 1940). "College Football in Kansas". Kansas Historical Quarterly. pp. 285–311. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
3. John Majors. "College Football". Tennessee Historical Society. Retrieved 2006-11-29.